Smartscooter sharing launches in Japan

Partnership will focus on Gogoro’s open battery swapping services and support two-wheel and four-wheel vehicles

The Smartscooter pilot will start in Ishigaki later this year and expand to other cities

Gogoro is partnering with Sumitomo Corporation, a global trading and business investment company based in Japan, to introduce its electric scooter sharing service in the country.

Called GoShare, the service will begin a pilot launch in the southern Japanese island of Ishigaki later this year and expand to other cities and markets in 2018.

“I am excited for Sumitomo Corporation to start collaborating with a technology innovator like Gogoro to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles,” said Masaki Nakajima, executive officer and general manager, automotive division, No 1, Sumitomo Corporation.

“The opportunity to expand Gogoro’s smart energy system for vehicles and other applications is significant.”

The partnership will champion the GoShare service utilising the Gogoro energy network, an open battery-swapping system that will power the Gogoro Smartscooter as well as compact four-wheel vehicles in the future.

In Taiwan, Gogoro reportedly handles 17,000 swapped battery swaps every day and has had six million total batteries swapped since launching in 2015.

“The Sumitomo Corporation and Gogoro partnership represents two companies that share a similar vision for making the world a better place through offering sustainable energy solutions that can transition people away from gas and to electric,” added Horace Luke, founder and CEO of Gogoro.

“The Smartscooter and Gogoro energy network demonstrate how technology innovation can transform an industry and introduce a new urban transportation paradigm.”

The Taiwan-based electric scooter start-up launched Smartscooter and Gogoro energy network in 2015 in Taipei and rolled it out across the country.

Sumitomo Corporation has 107 locations in 65 countries and 22 locations in Japan. The group consists of more than 800 companies and nearly 70,000 personnel. It conducts commodity transactions in all industries utilising worldwide networks and invests in companies to promote greater growth potential.

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The Gogoro Energy Network provides cities and consumers with an advanced battery-swapping infrastructure